Bareg Update Spring 2026

The ice has departed from the Potomac, the ospreys are back and nesting, crab pots are out, and water temp has been trending upwards, but alternating warm and cold spells have the temperature cycling up and down. Our dive floats tied into the U-1105’s search periscope survived the winter’s ice, and having them on station saved time and back gas when we conducted buoy ops on Saturday, 11 APR. Two BAREG divers, Reggie H. and Brian W., dove to the river bottom, recovered the U-1105 mooring buoy chain, and shackled the buoy to the chain. On Sunday, Christina C., Yves D., and the Ops Coordinator inspected the U-boat for major changes to its condition post-winter. No significant structural changes were observed, but that said, the U-boat was covered with a one-inch layer of sediment and unidentified marine growth. This highlights what we’ve seen over the years, and that is, every spring is different. For example, two years ago the U-boat was covered in sea grapes, but these tunicates haven’t been seen on the wreck since. The presence of sea grapes indicates higher salinity.

Conditions on both days started deceptively calm, but on Saturday a NNE wind kicked up and seas increased as we departed the inlet. For Reggie and Brian, managing the buoy, the chain, and the lift bag as the seas built took a lot of energy. Water T at the bottom was in the high 40s and viz was less than one foot. It was Potomac diving at its best. Sunday’s conditions mirrored the previous day, though the wind had veered to the SE and the seas were building as they rolled up from the Bay. Though the seas were only two feet, with an occasional three-footer, the four second period smacked us around and working under the buoy was sporty.

 

 

On Sunday, we inspected the mooring buoy chain and found sections of it that had significant corrosion and other sections that appeared new. On the bottom, viz was zero as we were pulling the chain and swivel out of the sediment to inspect it. It was a tactile inspection as there was no current to carry off the black cloud of suspended sediment. We are working on a plan to mitigate the weakened sections and will schedule working dives later this spring to implement the plan. For those interested in working dives, stay tuned for a call for divers.

HMT Birkenhead Dives – South Africa

In March, BAREG’s Ops Coordinator represented the group on a dive to the historic wreck site of Her Majesty’s Transport (HMT) Birkenhead, an iron-hulled paddle steamer lost in 1852 after striking an uncharted rock off Danger Point, South Africa. Dive colleagues at Wreckless Marine obtained a permit to dive the restricted site and the dives were made from a RHIB operating out of Gansbaai, Western Cape Province.

The sinking of Birkenhead is best known for the discipline the crew and the embarked soldiers displayed as the three lifeboats pulled away from the wreck bearing the women and children, the soldiers dependents. This was the first documented execution of the maritime tradition “women and children first.” Kipling immortalized this principle in his poem *Soldier an’ Sailor Too.*

To take your chance in the thick of a rush, with firing all about,
Is nothing so bad when you’ve cover to ‘and, an’ leave an’ likin’ to shout;
But to stand an’ be still to the *Birken’ead* drill is a damn tough bullet to chew,
An’ they done it, the Jollies — ‘Er Majesty’s Jollies — soldier an’ sailor too!

R. Kipling

A condition of the permit was that BAREG would provide photos of the wreck site, and these were passed to the South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA) Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage (MUCH) unit via Wreckless Marine.

 

Other Topics

Dues – Thank you to all members who have renewed their membership. We have 41 members in good standing and 16 recent members who are not in good standing. Recall that participation in BAREG dive activities requires current paid membership. If you have not paid your dues but plan to remain a member of BAREG, please pay your dues soonest.

Donations – Generous member donations enabled our payment for our group’s professional liability insurance in March. Endless thanks to those members who answered the call with their donations. As noted in our last update, if you own a business or are in a relevant position in a business, we ask that your company consider making a donation to BAREG as we are a not-for-profit 501 (c)(3) and thus charitable entity. Our commercial liability insurance premium is due in June, and so those dues stragglers, we need your payment.

Re-posting as this is really important – Trip Insurance – We have two cases where members have not received refunds when we met the requirements for notifying the charter operator that we had to cancel the trip. Note, these are not individual cancellations, but rather the entire trip was cancelled for the group. Our trip leaders press the charter operators for refunds, but the reality is we have little leverage. The reasons for trip cancellations vary, but regardless, if you put down a deposit or make full payment without travel insurance you accept the risk that you may lose your money. For each trip you pay for, we recommend that you assess the risk and decide if you will cover a potential loss with travel insurance. DAN offers travel insurance and that would be a good place to look first as it includes coverage for “sports equipment,” aka dive gear.

BAREG 2026 Activities

Past:

• 31 JAN & 1 FEB: U-1105 & Potomac Wrecks – canx due to WX
• 7 FEB: BAREG Symposium – Location TBD – canx due to WX
• 11 & 12 APR: U-1105 Buoy Ops – complete

Upcoming:

• 30 APR – 4 MAY: PAX River & Mid-Bay Wrecks – open
• 23 & 24 MAY: U-1105 & Potomac Wrecks – rescheduling due to date conflict
• 30 & 31 MAY: U-1105 & Potomac Wrecks – open
• 11 & 12 JUL: U-853, Point Judith, RI – pending date confirmation from charter operator – full
• 25 & 26 JUL: U-853, Point Judith, RI – pending date confirmation from charter operator – full
• 23 – 29 AUG: Scapa Flow, Orkney Islands, UK – booked, full
• 12 & 13 SEP: U-1105 & Potomac Wrecks – open
• 14 NOV: Business Meeting
• 5 & 6 DEC: Buoy Ops

Patuxent River & Chesapeake Bay Dives

As shown above, our next dive activity is an exploration of wrecks in the lower Patuxent River, and weather and time permitting, wrecks in the middle of Chesapeake Bay. Our objective is to collect information on the wrecks and provide notes and photos/video (if any) to the Maryland Historical Trust. This may include a dive on the S-49, a challenging wreck to dive given its location in the Patuxent. The site is known for its strong current and visibility far worse than what we find in the Potomac. The dive boat will be operating out of a marina in Solomons Island.

Change of Summer Plans

Due to the steep rise in fuel costs, particularly marine diesel, the Ops Coordinator’s plan to take the dive boat to Lake Champlain again this summer have been canceled. That means there will be more opportunities to dive locally (for those in the National Capital Region) on wrecks in the Bay and its tributaries. Stay tuned for calls for divers.

Non-BAREG Event of Interest

This presentation looks to be of interest for BAREG members, particularly the Orkney connection for those headed to Scapa Flow this summer. Per the Club’s calendar, you can stream the presentation via youtube or facebook.

The Shipwrecks that Shaped WWII | The Explorers Club 

From the Explorers Club events calendar:

Join the Explorers Club on April 24th for a look into an understudied period of maritime history that changed the course of the Second World War.

This presentation explores a crucial but under-examined chapter in maritime history, revealing how contraband control shaped decision-making during the opening months of the Second World War. Through a series of previously unpublished incidents, Synnøve Marie Kvam Strømsvåg will unpack how contentious prize cases involving seizure of neutral ships influenced diplomatic relations between belligerent and neutral nations, impacting on military strategy and the course of events during this period.

Drawing on original research supported by the Norwegian Shipowners’ Mutual War Risks Insurance Association and the Norwegian Ministry of Defence WWII Cultural Heritage Fund, amongst others, this session will show how individual prize cases became precedent-setting and exposed legal grey zones which continue to endure in today’s hybrid threat environments at sea. Some such legal grey zones from 1939 have since been clarified in law, whilst others remain unclear. Some incidents created legal precedence – others impacted on the course of events but left few traces in law.

Attendees will gain new insight into the intersection of regulation and international relations that remains relevant for current war risk, maritime legislation, civilian shipping and naval strategy. And it all started with the forgotten story of two shipwrecks on Orkney…

If you happen to be in New York City Friday evening, you can buy a ticket, attend the pre-presentation reception at the Club’s bar, and see the presentation live when it starts at 1900. See the details at the link above.

BAREG 2027 Trip to Truk/Chu’uk

We have five divers signed on for Truk next year and there may still be room on our 2027 trip to Truk. Our trip dates are 26 MAY (arrive Truk) to 8 JUN (depart Truk). For more information, see below from our charter operator, Lust4Rust.

Hope you all have a great spring and summer dive season.

Fred Engle

Ops Coordinator

BAREG

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From Lust4Rust:

Many thanks for your interest in coming to Truk lagoon and more importantly of all, we appreciate you wanting to come with us. I am not sure whether you have been before but if this is your first time, quite honestly this place will blow your mind. This has to be one of the highest “must do’s” for all divers, yet the least visited! I have detailed information below that will hopefully help you make up your mind to join us.

There are many misconceptions about Truk here are some of them.

All Wrecks in Truk Lagoon are deep!

This couldn’t be further from the truth. 60% of the wrecks are in 40m (140 foot) and shallower with most of the wrecks getting as shallow as 12m down to 38m (40-130 feet). And with over 60 ships, planes and submarines etc you wont get bored! This also allows more time on (and in) the wrecks.

All the wrecks have been dived to death!

Truk, although known world over as the wreck divers mecca, doesn’t see that many visitors each year. This means that you will seldom share a wreck with another boat, not like a lot of destinations what will easily see 10-15 dive boats moored over a single wreck! There are 5 operators in Truk at present, two land based and three live aboard operations.

With over 60 ship and plane wrecks in the Lagoon to choose from, operators have their “favourites” that they take people to but simply, if we head out to a preplanned wreck site and there is another dive boat on it, we move to another site. Simple.

There are also many wrecks that don’t get dived that much at all. This is where we come in and offer these amazing wreck dive options for people. These are mostly in the deeper depths of between 45-70m (140 – 230 foot) of water. So appropriate training and experience is required.

90% of the diving in Truk is done using single tanks so when you dive on a 600 foot ocean liner, one dive on a single tank will give you round 45-60 minutes of dive time. There is hardly enough time to even see a fraction of the ship let alone the whole thing. So when you have the time to look round these massive structures you can enjoy things at your own pace.

More information on the wrecks is on this link

Liveaboard vs Land based

One of the first things that I thought of when I first went to Truk was “wouldn’t it be great to do this trip on a live aboard?” So I did a lot of research into the benefits of doing both. Basically there are three live boards in Truk. Two of these move from wreck to wreck which again, you may think is a great idea. But when you have 16 people descending onto the same wreck things get pretty crowded very quickly. And everyone goes to the same places. It wont take long for the silt to be kicked up. So if you are always the first team into the wrecks then you have nothing to worry about!

We choose to use Blue Lagoon Dive Resort because they are strategically located at the lower southern end of Moen Island. This gives us minimal time to get to both the deeper and shallower sites. Boat rides average between 5-25 minutes to the wreck sites. Also with the resort, everyone has an ocean view room, with ensuite, air conditioning, fridge etc. The experience is truly one of relaxation and actually feeling that you are on vacation. Full pictures and details of the resort is on this link https://www.petemesley.com/lust4rust/20-truk-lagoon/trips/10-accommodation

Their restaurant is fantastic with over 50 different dishes so there is plenty of variety.

DIVING TRUK!!!!!

Truk is not only known for its amazing wrecks, but also the aquatic life round them. You will witness some of the best coral gardens and fish life around.

Catering for divers

We cater for all levels of diver. From Recreational to Technical CCR diver. We have over 75 sets of rebreather tanks, a ton of sorb, Oxygen on tap, Helium, boosters, stage tank set ups, etc.

One of the biggest things that we do is making sure that we match people up in similar experience and training levels on the boats. So this will reduce frustration for single tank divers having to wait 2 hours for rebreather divers to surface.

All our boats have a maximum of 6 divers per boat and 1 boat per wreck so you will feel like you are the only people in Truk at times! This is also really attractive for rebreather divers who may opt to have longer bottom times. Also what will happen almost all the time is people will definitely want to go back to a wreck again and again, as long as everyone on the boat feels the same way we can make a plan!

Safety

Truk lagoon is probably one of the most out of the way, isolated destinations on the planet. To ensure diver safety and well being it is our Policy on all Lust4Rust Diving Excursions trips to bring a Hyperbaric and Emergency Physician. There is a well kitted out re-compression chamber on the main island (5 minutes away from the resort) but delays in correspondence with medical providers can make things difficult. The local hospital is expectant of a normal 3rd world hospital. Sparse equipment and very limited resources. So we take your health and welfare very seriously!

Getting there

With so many people coming from all over the globe we mainly focus on the land based bookings only. But we are only too happy to give you assistance giving you ideas and best routes to get you to Truk. You will need to fly into the Island of Chuuk, known as Truk Lagoon (airline code TKK). Coming from Mainland US there are two main options. Coming via Honolulu flying direct to Guam and then a short 1:40 hour flight to Truk. There is also an island hopper from Honolulu but takes 13 hours and lands at 5 islands. I would strongly recommend the former flying directly into Guam.

The dates shown in the itinerary are dates for you to be in Truk and leaving Truk so please leave adequate time on each side of the trip for travel. Also worth looking into, some airlines while on the surface have cheaper fares, with added excess luggage requirements for most divers, the excess luggage fees are crippling. So best to use due diligence (or give us a shout and we can help with routes, preferred airlines etc)

How much is it going to cost me?

2027/28 pricing \$4195.00 usd (ex truk)

How do I book onto the trip?

If you are in a position to commit to the trip, fantastic! All we need is for you to fill out, sign and return the booking forms accompanied by a \$500us deposit. We have full bank details on the booking forms but if you want to pay by WISE then we have added a convienient QR code for the deposit. This will secure your spot for the trip. The rest of the monies will need to be paid 10 weeks before the start of the trip. This will give you loads of time to secure your flights. ( we can also supply you with a final payment QR code)